It has become relatively easy for individuals and groups of individuals to take digital photographs and to record video, and to distribute this content to others over the Internet or other data networks. Such content is referred to as being “user generated” content. Still and video cameras, which are now common features on mobile phones, can be used to take photographs and to record videos that are immediately available for sharing with others through a multi-media messaging service or email, video file sharing sites, social network and similar services on the Internet that publish (to selected individuals or groups, or to everyone) or otherwise make available the photographs and video over the Internet. Some dedicated cameras and storage cards now have wireless or network connectivity and video can be uploaded to remote servers for sharing. Individuals or “consumers” distribute their photos and videos by uploading them to web-based services that publish them for friends, family, social or business contacts or anyone with access to the Internet to view. When user-generated content is uploaded or shared for a specific purpose, such as for example, in response to a widely disseminated request for a certain type of content, it may be referred to as crowd-sourced content.
Most consumer equipment capable of capturing photos or video is now able to do so in high definition. Inexpensive computer application programs allow individuals to edit photographs, videos and other graphics into a single work with nearly professional results, and to render the resulting work or “content” in standard formats for playback on a wide range of devices. Services for sharing user-generated video, photographs, and music abound on the Internet. For example, a number of video sharing sites allow people to upload, encode and share videos on the web.
On the other hand, most people still view professionally produced television programs (“programs”) and motion pictures (“movies”) using traditional television services. Programs are typically distributed to traditional television service providers by so-called “television networks,” who possess the legal rights necessary to distribute the programs, and who are sometimes also involved in producing the programming. Those who provide transmission services for television, and provide television service to viewers, are referred to as “carriers” or Multi-Service Operators (“MSO”). Most television networks “sell” short periods of time during the programming for transmission of advertising, known as “commercials,” “advertisements,” “ads” or “ad spots,” that promote businesses or programming on the network. These time slots can also be used for transmission of public service announcements. These time slots may also be used for any other promotional purposes.
Television transmission or distribution systems used by traditional carriers of television programming include terrestrial broadcast stations, satellite television, and cable television systems, as well as telecom delivery network services such as VDSL and FiOS offered over broadcast telecommunication or data networks, whose operators provide television services similar to what are offered by cable and satellite television service providers. However, standards have been formulated, or are in the process of being formulated, for using Internet protocols and the public Internet to distribute television programming using “live” IP-multicast or IP unicast streams that can be received by anyone with any type of broadband data connection to the Internet.
Though some television programs are available over the Internet and traditional carriers on an on-demand basis, traditional television programming for a television network is linear, meaning that programs—an episode of a television series, a news program, or a movie, for example—are scheduled so that they are transmitted sequentially, according to a predefined schedule, to carriers for transmission over their systems for substantially contemporaneous receipt by their subscribers or, in the case of terrestrial broadcast stations, by those who receive their broadcast signal. In linear programming, the programs to be transmitted to the audience, and the schedule for transmitting of the programs, are usually planned in advance of the time of transmission to an audience. The programming schedule, usually expressed in the form of a programming grid, specifies what program and, if applicable, episode is to be transmitted on each day and at any given time during the periods in which the network is scheduled to transmit. Television programs can include, but are not limited to, television series, motion pictures, news programs, reality television programs, sporting events, and other audio/visual works. The programs are often pre-recorded. However, programs can be “live.” Generally, such programs are professionally produced. The network either owns or licenses the legal rights to distribute them.
Traditional linear programming is commonly divided into thirty-minute or hour-long programming segments, though it can be divided into shorter or longer segments, depending on network preferences. Programs can occupy more than one segment. Within a typical thirty-minute program segment, for example, between twenty-two and twenty-six minutes are reserved for transmitting the program. The remaining time is divided among 2-5 segments for commercials and/or other promotional announcements. Those segments are typically subdivided into multiple time slots for sale to advertisers. The duration of the advertising segments and each of the time slots can be chosen to be any desired length. The network transmits, or arranges for transmission of, its signal so that the half-hour segments begin at the top and bottom of each hour. However, networks can, and do sometimes, adjust the start and end time of programs. A network may or may not transmit more than one signal, or “feed,” to account for time zone differences or other considerations.